A record of the wildlife in and around Hadham Ford as from January 2008. Please feel free to leave any comments or email me with details of interesting bird, mammal, butterfly, moth and dragonfly sightings.
@jonoForgham on twitter

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Saturday 12th July

A morning walk, just locally, gave up little of note in grey skies that slowly burnt off to give a bonus of heat during the afternoon. I wandered along the River Ash south of the Ford, discovering several new insects but little else of note. Poppies (papaver rhoeas) were flowering prolifically and their pollen attracts many insects. Seen in these photographs are a hover fly species (syrphus ribesii.) A common enough species, but good to get a reasonable photograph of the specimen. Also noted were the pollen beetles that can infest any flowering plant. They are particularly fond of the parsley family in May and June, where they mix happily with soldier beetles in the pollen full florets. As well as these creatures, a photo here of oedemera nobilis, another pollen beetle, common at this time of the year. The male is easily identified by its bulbous electric green coloured hind legs. The example depicted here is a female. The final photograph shows a small skipper butterfly. Tricky to identify from other skipper species, but the just noticeable red/orange clubs at the end of the antennae are diagnostic of this particular species.

Caley Wood view

A walk along the Warta Valley, Poznan, Poland. Feb 2007

About Me

A primary school teacher for 30 years, I retired from teaching in July 2009 to set up my own science enhancement and communication company. The Primary Works offers science clubs, workshops and staged science shows nationwide.
I have always been interested in bird watching since my early years. Apparently my first tick was after inquiring about a chaffinch and then receiving the Observer book of birds. By the age of 9 I had moved on to Tory Peterson's collins guide and was now involved on YOC birding holidays to Northumbria, Essex coast, Slimbridge and Yorkshire.
My twitching rule is that I will willingly travel 1km for each gram the bird weighs. However, I have had many rarities just by being in the right place.
I have travelled widely throughout Europe and also visited Australia and Sri Lanka. Further European destinations are planned and a bigger trip to The Crimea was planned for 2014 but now not possible. so 2014: Sri Lanka in January, Poland in April, Madeira in June and The Camargue in July. So far 2015 has been Sri Lanka in Jan, Poland in Feb, Sri Lanka in April and The Camargue coming up in 1st week of September.

Wild daffodils (narcissus pseudonarcissus)

January snowdrops

Good Moon

Village Green

Looking south before Hadham Ford

rare January blue sky

Useful sites

The following are some useful websites that may interest readers of this blog.Firstly, Bishop's Stortford Natural History Society http://bsnhs.webplus.net/

Fellow birder, Gary Whelan's blog. Gives reports from our trips out together plus reports from his trips abroad. http://hairybirders.blogspot.co.ukhttp://www.hertsbirdclub.org.uk/ The official herts bird club website. Frequently updated, listing bird sightings around the county. Offers links to many other websites. Both of these sites also offer links to yahoo discussion groups.http://www.birdforum.net/ An international site. You can enter as a guest but become a member( free) to post comments, bird sightings and just about anything to do with wild birds. Good news updates, classified section for binoculars, cameras etc.http://www.guidedbirdwatching.com/ A new site set up where you can contact people worldwide who will help you find good birds in their country. UK section being set up presently.http://www.britainsbirder.co.uk/Fellow birders blog. Strtford resident, Graeme Smith regulary birds the area south of Stortford as well as around Spellbrook and the River Stort from Spellbrook to Twyford Locks. Some superb bird photography: Graeme uses a digital camera attached to his powerful telescope to get detailled images of the birds he sees. Well worth a browse.Two local sites that may be of interest can be found athttp://www.thehadhams.com/www.thepelhams.net/content/section/12/139/